How Sweet it is: Recapping March Madness

Patrick: We truly have madness, fellas. This year, unlike any I’ve witnessed, has been the year of the upsets. So here we are, talking together in the middle of the Sweet Sixteen, editing this column and going to the printer just ahead of the Final Four. We’re gonna come out with this issue just after the NCAA Championship game. Now that we’re nearing the conclusion of this awesomeness, team, what do y’all have?

John: First off, although there have been many lower-seeded teams trumping higher-seeded teams, oddly, many of the games didn’t really seem like upsets. I mean, looking at the teams out on the floor versus their ranking, many games seemed to be evenly matched.

Donald: I agree with John about these games not really looking like upsets. No David and Goliaths.

Patrick: John, you have anything more?

John: Thank you, sir. As we’ve mentioned, this year’s tournament’s been the most wideopen I think I’ve ever seen. With the exception of the blue bloods, not to be confused with the TV drama Blue Bloods, the UCLA Bruins—

Patrick: Wait, hold up—please get my champ’s name out of your mouth, Mr. Hagan.

Russ: Thank you, John. Now, Pat, you might as well have let it loose already!

Patrick: Straight bogus. Y’all so not right…but funny.

Donald: Kinda.

Russ: Glad you recognized.

Donald: (Laughter.) Go on, John.

John: Yeah, the teams most associated with “blue blood,” UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana— some major ball clubs—these teams didn’t even make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Not one.

Donald: Shoot, and North Carolina didn’t even make the tournament.

Patrick: Yeah, that was a tough one for me. I thought they would have had the opportunity to win the tournament... I remember John talking about North Carolina perhaps not making the tournament—even after being ranked as the top team in men’s college basketball before the season even began— but I never thought it would actually happen. North Carolina—UNC, Michael Jordan’s alma mater—didn’t make the tournament.

Russ: And they had a pretty good season last year with a lot of the same players still there.

John: Good point. For me, I’m loving that Miami (FL) and Princeton made this Sweet Sixteen. Princeton! And Miami (FL) made its first NCAA Final Four appearance.

Patrick: Out of the 16 teams, I had Alabama out of the South, Michigan State out of the East, Xavier out of the Midwest and UCLA out of the West. In the Elite Eight, I figured UCLA to beat Xavier, go on to the Final Four and take it all over ’Bama. Well, Michigan State was knocked out by Kansas State, ‘Bama was upset by San Diego State and Gonzaga surprised UCLA. I am OK with not getting a single one right. But NO ONE IN THE WORLD got anything right with this year’s tournament. Out of the seven sheets in our office, one 1 person (!) got a single team in the Final Four. That is, San Diego State, Miami, Florida Atlantic and UConn; all but UConn were in their first Final Four. That’s the kind of tournament we want.

Donald: Sounds about right to me. I do want to mention the women’s NCAA tournament bracket is as competitive as the men’s. Two No. 1 seeds are already out.

Russ: Yeah, top-seed Stanford went down to 8-seed Ole Miss, and 9-seed Miami eliminated Indiana.

Donald: It’s wild out here. I believe we’re about to really see what’s going on.

Any comments or suggestions? Email pedwards@streetwise.org

Vendors Russell Adams, John Hagan and Donald Morris chat about the world of sports with Executive Assistant Patrick Edwards.